Our father among the saintsPhotius the Great (also Photios, in Greek Φωτιoς), Patriarch of Constantinople, is considered one of the greatest patriarchs of Constantinople. His feast day is celebrated on February 6.

Life

The parents of Photios were wealthy and pious Christians. His father was attached to the imperial court with the office of "Guardian of the Emperor and the Palace." They belonged to the party which venerate icons and the current Emperor was an iconcoclast against the use of icons in the church. They were exiled when Photios was seven, disposed of their wealth and eventually martyred. Photios' brother was the PatriarchsTarasios and related to John VII Grammatikos. He was known as one who was inclined to the quiet, prayerful and monastic life. Byzantine writers report that Emperor Leo VI once angrily called Photios "Khazar-faced", but whether this was a generic insult or a reference to his ethnicity is unclear.

As soon as he had completed his own education, Photios began to teach grammar, rhetoric, divinity and philosophy. The way to public life was probably opened for him by (according to one account) the marriage of his brother Sergios to the Irene, a sister of the Empress Theodora, who upon the death of her husband Theophilos in 842, had assumed the regency of the empire. Photios became a captain of the guard and subsequently chief imperial secretary (prōtasēkrētis). In 855, at thirty-five years of age, Photios was recognized for his political skills and made the ambassador to the Persian caliph in Bagdad with the charge to negotiate an end to the Christian persecution in the Moslem territories.

The dissension between the patriarch Ignatios and the Caesar Bardas, the uncle of the youthful Emperor Michael III, concerning Bardas' illicit relationship with his daughter-in-law and other questionalble moral pracitces, brought promotion to Photios. Ignatios was arrested and exiled to the island or Terebinthos in 858 where he submitted his resignation. Photios, a layperson, was inducted into the priesthood and made a bishop within six days, and installed as patriarch. He resisted this appointment as he wished for a life of contemplation. He was the most distinguished scholar at that time and was seen above suspicion, being strongly opposed to the iconoclast party since his parents had died in opposition to that cause.

Several months after his exile, a few of supporter of Ignatios came together in the Chruch of Saint Irene and plotted to restore Igantios to the patriarchate. They made an appeal to Pope Nicholas discrediting the appointment of Phtios. This was signed by only six metropolitans and fifteen bishops. There were several monks in this camp that set out for Rome even though Ignatios had volutarily resigned. They were recieved by Pope Nicholas eager to assert his power over the Eastern church. Pope Nicholas I had been successful in bringing the Western church under his absolute control and he now sought to bring the Eastern chruch under the same control.

Photios convened a council in the Church of the Holy Apostles in 859. The intent was to stop the controversy about his appointment. This council found that Ignatios had not been elected by a synod and therefore his election to the patriarchate was illegal. He had been appointed by Empress Theodora. Unfortunately the Caesar Barda was vengeful against the opposition and imposed an exile on Ignatios to the island of Mytiline and persecuted some of his folowers. Photios strongly objected to this action.

Pope Nicholas felt that the appointment needed the consent of Rome and objected to the fact that Photiuos was a layperson even though there was precedence for this in both the Western and Eastern church. He also demanded that the Byzantines give back to Rome the territory of Calbria and Sicily.

In 861, with approval of Photios, Emperor Michael convened a general council in the Church of the Holy Apostles known as the First-Second Synod. The Pope was invited and he was glad to send his delgates. He sent them with the instruction to investigagte the election of Photios in relation to the canons and and to demand that Illyricum and south Italy be given to Rome. This synod ratified the actions of the seventh Ecumenical Council condemning Iconoclasm. Also Photios was affirmed as the lawful and canonical patriarch. The western delgation accepted the legality of Photios appointment. Ignatios appeared before the synod and was deposed.

When the delgates returned to Rome and that Nicholas found that his demands for territorial rights were not considered he became angry and excommunicated his delegates. He convened a council in Rome in 863 after which he deposed and excommunicated Photios on the basis that his appointment was uncanonical. He chose to recognize Ignatios as the legitimate patriarch.

The conflict between Rome and Constantinople reached a climax. Phtios was defending the autonomy of the Eastern church but also vital interests of the empire. He had the full support of Emperor Michael III and sent a letter to the Pope demanding that he withdraw his decision against Photios. In 867, an ecumenical council was held with over one-thousand attendiing. This council excommunicated Nicholas, condemned the pope's claims of primacy, his interference in Bulgaria, and the innovative addition of the filioque clause to the creed. The letters of both Nicholas and Photios were read at this council. The situation was additionally complicated by the question of papal authority over the entire Church and by disputed jurisdiction over newly-converted Bulgaria. It pronounced that the Latin interference in the affairs of the Byzantine Church was unlawful. The German Emperor Louis II was asked to intervene and depose Pope Nicholas, but he died that same year.

There were two Emperors in the East at the time Michaal II and Basil I. Michael plotted to kill Basil but Basil found out about the plot and murdered Michael. Photios refused to accept the murder of Basil and refused him communion on a great feat day. This angered Basil so he held him in prison in a monastery. He then reinstated Ignatios in 867.

This state of affairs changed with the murder of Photios' patron Bardas in 866 and of the emperor Michael in 867, by his colleague Basil the Macedonian, who now usurped the throne. Photios was deposed as patriarch, not so much because he was a protegé of Bardas and Michael, but because Basil I was seeking an alliance with the Pope and the western emperor. Photios was removed from his office and banished about the end of September 867, and Ignatios was reinstated on November 23. During his second patriarchate, Ignatios followed a policy not very different from that of Photios. This perhaps helped improve relations between the two, and in c. 876 Photios was suddenly recalled to Constantinople and entrusted with the education of the emperor's children and became an advisor to Ignatios. On the death of Ignatios in October 877, Photios, after the requisite show of reluctance, and being recommended by Ignatios prior to his death, was restored to the patriarchal throne.

Photios now obtained the formal recognition of the Christian world in a council convened at Constantinople in November 879. The legates of Pope John VIII attended, prepared to acknowledge Photios as legitimate patriarch, a concession for which the pope was much censured by Latin opinion. The patriarch stood firm on the main points contested between the Eastern and Western Churches, the demanded apology to the Pope, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Bulgaria, and the introduction of the filioque clause into the creed. Eventually Photios refused to apologize or accept the filioque, and the papal legates made do with his return of Bulgaria to Rome. This concession, however, was purely nominal, as Bulgaria's return to the Byzantine rite in 870 had already secured for it an autocephalous church. Without the consent of Boris I of Bulgaria, the papacy was unable to enforce its claims.

During the altercations between Basil I and his heir Leo VI, Photios took the side of the emperor. Consequently, when Basil died in 886 and Leo became senior emperor, Photios was dismissed and banished, although he had been Leo's tutor. Photios was sent into exile to the monastery of Bordi in Armenia. From this time Photios disappears from history. No letters of this period of his life are extant. The precise date of his death is not known, but it is said to have occurred on February 6, 893.

Photios was long the standard-bearer of the Church in its disagreements with the Pope of Rome. All agree on the virtue of his personal life and his remarkable talents, even genius, and the wide range of his intellectual aptitudes. Pope Nicholas himself referred to his "great virtues and universal knowledge."